Most residential and commercial properties have at least one thermostat managing some form of a temperature maintenance system. These systems help keep occupants and stored material in a comfortable environment.
The laws of thermodynamics dictate that temperature maintenance systems require more energy to maintain temperatures which are further from the ambient temperature of the surrounding environment. For instance, it takes less energy, and as a result, is less expensive to heat a house to 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter than to keep the same house at 75 degrees. Similarly, it is less expensive to cool the same house to 78 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer than to cool the house down to 72 degrees. In order to limit the costs of providing a comfortable environment within a temperature maintenance controlled building, measures are often taken to set limits on temperature ranges available for selection on a thermostat.
In addition, there are instances where occupants (such as those residing in hospitals, assist living, or nursing homes) need to be protected from setting the temperature maintenance system either too high or too low, regardless of economic efficiency.
Modern thermostats are often controlled by a plurality of “hard” and “soft” buttons. Soft buttons are touch sensitive areas on screens, and the functions of these soft buttons vary depending on the display of the screens. Hard buttons are traditional mechanical switches and buttons. Thermostats can have a variety soft and/or hard buttons having different functions. Often these buttons take the form of a “+” and a “−” system of buttons for adjusting the room temperature up or down.
These controls are sufficient to regulate the function of the thermostat, however they allow anyone with access to them to have complete control over the thermostat's settings. This allows anyone with access to the thermostat to adjust it outside of a cost effective operating temperature range, driving up the costs to heat or cool the environment and/or putting undesired stress on the temperature maintenance system. It also allows anyone with access to the thermostat, such as nursing home residents, to adjust it outside of a medically safe temperature range. The medically safe temperature range can differ from a cost effective operating temperature range.
Often it is desired that certain individuals such as tenants, college students living in dorms, and/or travelers at hotels who have no incentive or limited ability to keep the thermostat set at a cost effective range, be limited to the cost effective range. These individuals can be referred to as non-administrative users.
Similarly, it is desired that certain individuals such as hospital and/or nursing home residents who, for medical reasons be unable to set their thermostat at a safe operating range, be limited to a medically safe temperature range. These individuals can also be referred to as non-administrative users.
There have been many proposed solutions to the problem of allowing anyone with access to the thermostat to adjust it outside of a particular operating temperature range. One solution has been to require a security code to set the upper and lower limits of the thermostat's possible operating range. However, individuals can often find these codes online and/or hack the system, thus defeating the purpose of the tamper proof thermostat.
Another proposed solution involves permanently fixing the temperature range of the thermostat by having limitations on temperature within the circuit itself, which cannot be overridden. However, this solution offers no degree of flexibility if someone with the proper authority (for example a landlord or maintenance person) desires to alter these limits. Instead they would be required to purchase a whole new unit with the desired operating range.
There is a need for a tamper resistant thermostat which unauthorized individuals cannot easily override, and qualified personnel have the capability to limit as desired.